Help: What's Fair?

[purple_drazi]

I bought 5 Rams from a reputable dealer and put them in quarantine for 10 days. At the end of the quarantine period I put them in my main tank. Two days later my daughter noticed a large lump over the eye of one of the Rams. Looking closer we noticed more lumps on the other Rams as well as nodules inside them, pulled them out of the tank and threw them straight back into quarantine. The dealer I bought the fish from admitted that he had the same problem with the rest of his Ram stock and gave me an anti-parasite med to treat my fish. It hasn't worked. I called a friend who is a professional aquarist (he's in the business of setting up & maintaining tanks) who said that he happened to be going to go by the dealer's place to take a look at the Rams in the dealer's tank (it's a small community, we all know each other) that night.

I spoke to my friend today who said that the problem is definitely a very deep intramuscular parasite. The medicine to deal with this costs $50 and takes a month to work. That's insane. For $50 I can buy a whole new batch of clean Rams and not have the hassle.

Do I call the dealer and ask him to take his fish back and give me my money back? It's been a month that I've had these fish and have been dealing with this. Or do I cut my losses, euthanise the fish and find another fish shop?

 

[sandie66]

If the seller knew about the problem, he shouldn't have sold them to you. I would at least try to return them, get my money back, and get a new set of fish somewhere else. The worst thing he can do is say no.

 

[gilaesther]

Try and return them. If he says no, argue that he should at least give you the medication needed for free. Complain that he knew the rams were sick, and if he still gives you trouble, tell him you won't be coming back to his store and that you'll tell all your friends what happened.